Facebook promises to redesign its privacy settings

Thursday, 29 March, 2018

Facebook on Wednesday announced an overhaul of its privacy tools that will make it easier for users to find and edit the personal information the company holds.

Facebook Inc has adjusted privacy settings to give users morecontrol over their information in a few taps, it said on Wednesday (March 28), after an outcry over a whistleblower's allegations that members' data was used to sway the 2016 U.S. election.

'We're taking additional steps in the coming weeks to put people more in control of their privacy, ' they added.

When it comes to privacy shortcuts, users will have access to a "clearer, more visual" system that allows them to do things like control the ads they are served, control who sees their profile and personal information and add extra layers of protection - such as two-factor authentication - to their account. The company wrote, "Built using your feedback, everything is organized so that information about protecting your privacy is easy to find".

After reports of Facebook breaching data and influencing electoral processes, the government on March 21 had warned the social networking giant saying it can even summon Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, if found guilty.

Archibong noted Tuesday that Facebook is investigating all apps that had access to large droves of data before the company made changes to its platform in 2014 to reduce data access.

Facebook's chief privacy officer, Erin Egan, said in a blog post that most of the privacy updates have been in the works for "some time, but the events of the past several days underscore their importance". For example, Facebook announced in 2009 that it was consolidating six privacy pages and more than 30 settings on to a single privacy page. Other useful privacy settings, like checking which apps are using your information or managing your interests, will carry over to the new privacy hub.

Since 2006, Facebook has repeatedly promised to safeguard users' data through redesigns and by putting privacy controls front and center.

The app was downloaded by 270,000 people, but also scooped up their friends' data without consent - as was possible under Facebook's rules at the time. They apply to any company that collects data on European Union residents, no matter where it is based. These updates, the company insists, "are about transparency - not about gaining new rights to collect, use, or share date".

Facebook has lost an estimated $80 billion in value over the last week as thousands of users have deleted their accounts following the revelation that the company stored phone call and text message data for Android users who used Facebook Messenger.

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